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Egypt’s textile exports to the United States during the first quarter of the year 2001 rose to 140 million Egyptian pounds ($35.3 million), according to a report recently released by the Egyptian ministry of economics.

This reflects a 17.9 percent increase compared with the corresponding period of the previous year, when textile exports stood at EP 118.4 million, reported Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily. The report also revealed that textile exports constituted 64.27 percent of all Egyptian exports to the United States during the first quarter of the year.

Statistics provided by Egypt’s economic office in Washington indicate that exchanges between the two countries had risen by 7.3 percent during the first five months of the current year, reaching $1.8 billion.

The rise in textile exports is attributed in part to a series of steps recently implemented by the Egyptian government, in a bid to boost the country’s competitiveness on the international textile markets.

Measured include easing restrictions on cotton production so that export prices would drop, reenacting a 15 percent customs charge on imported yarn products and directing young Egyptian university graduates to technical and marketing positions in public textile firms. Authorities also plan to promote small-sized textile and yarn manufacturing enterprises throughout Egypt. — (MENA Report)